A
loyal Martinelli employee who once before went with him into the public
sector

Gioconda
Torres de Bianchini to be the next Comptroller Generalby
Eric Jackson

Early
in the evening of October 20 Gioconda Torres de Bianchini, a CPA who
has been overseeing the audits of President Martinelli's Importadora
Ricamar food importing company, was elected in a 43-19 party line
vote as the nation's next Comptroller General. The watchdog post has
wide powers to approve or disapprove public spending or contracts,
and to investigate the finances of public bodies at all levels. Her
token competition was PRD legislator Abraham Martínez.
Elected along with her as her second-in-command was Chiriqui
businessman Luis Felipe Icaza. De Bianchini and Torres take office
next January 1.

This
will not be Mrs. Bianchini's first time in a public post. When
Martinelli served as Social Security director during the
Pérez
Balladares administration, she served as head of accounting for the
Social Security Fund. During those years, Martinelli occasionally
clashed with employee unions. That administration's worst moment was
when Martinelli was stymied when 11 kidney dialysis patients died,
most likely from bad chemicals used in the machines, but an
investigation was hampered by a wall of silence and the apparent
destruction of evidence, which in turn prompted criticism of
Martinelli's management. However, during those years there were never
any financial scandals in the Social Security Fund --- that being
something outside the norms for that institution --- and on the basis
of her performance overseeing Seguro's finances Bianchini received
the endorsement of some prominent anti-corruption activists.

The
Comptroller General is a five-year appointment by the National
Assembly rather than the president. Five years ago Martinelli
criticized the selection of the outgoing comptroller, Carlos
Vallarino, claiming that his main credentials were long-standing
activism in the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and membership
in former President Torrijos's inner circle of confidantes. This time
around some in the PRD tried to turn this criticism around against
Torres de Bianchini and Martinelli, but the comparison did not seem
to stick in the public mind. The president, for his part, has denied
that he interfered with or prompted this legislative decision; and it
appears that people draw a distinction between 15 years as a
confidential employee of Ricardo Martinelli's private businesses and
long years working as a PRD member in public posts.